One Year

I've started off 2016 74# pounds lighter than when I started 2015.  It's pretty cool.  I can't even begin to explain the benefits I've found from losing weight and changing my way of eating (diet).  The benefits range from the need for my asthma inhaler a lot less to an increase in self-esteem.

When I started off last year, I decided to make a change, not just in my diet, but in my thinking.  I decided to celebrate every pound I lost by posting publicly on Facebook.  I did this because, I thought it would help me stay on track.  I would be publicly holding myself accountable. That worked.  I didn't realize that so many of my friends and family (and even their friends and family!) would be watching.  I was prepared for some backlash and eye-rolling.  But you know what happened? No the backlash and eye-rolling!  I became an inspiration to myself.  Which in turn has inspired other people.  My Facebook posts may revolve around eating and losing weight (along with kids, derby, politics and things that amuse me!) but there is now a lack of the self-depreciating posts that I used to have, I didn't have a lot, but I had a lot more than I deserved. Humans mostly learn the best if they feel safe and loved.  For some reason our culture as a whole seems to teach us that we don't deserve to feel safe and loved from ourselves.  We apologize for being ourselves! Let me tell you, you're awesome and deserve to be your own biggest cheerleader!!  So if you are trying to learn a new derby skill or you are trying to start a new way of eating, you should be gentle with yourself. Expect that you are going to make mistakes. Expect that you will eventually figure it out. If you need help, don't be too proud to ask for it. Give yourself props for just trying. Each time you do this, your are reinforcing the positive part of learning.

I get posts in my inbox now, asking me how to get started, if a recipe will fit into macros and the best ones...thanking me for posting my progress and how they have seen a difference in themselves and how me publicly posting about my change of lifestyle has made a difference to them. 

On those days when I have on "fat goggles", those types of things inspire me back.  When someone posts that they lost 1 lb, I feel over the moon for them.  Because, I know first hand the struggle sometimes to lose just one stinking pound.  I know the tears and the depression I felt when I was doing everything that I had been taught in nutrition classes and it didn't help AND I WAS STARVING. 

I'm so happy that I decided to share my journey. I'm not sure if I would have been as successful had I not, if I would have continued to fear publicly failing (which is code for publicly learning). Thanks for being there for me!